Population Growth and Economic Development

Over the last six centuries, growth in population has ignited the global concern is becoming disastrous. There is deemed possibility of depletion of food to support the ever increasing population. The problem is as a result of several contributing factors, and they are population growth, migration, urbanization, environmental destruction, and ethical conflicts. This approach to sociology will not hesitate to address the necessity of understanding capitalism and culture that contribute to present global problems as well as in the future. There is a distinctive culture based on the utility of commodity considered a source of well-being that has emerged in the past five centuries. The culture originally in western European to United States and finally to the rest of the world, this culture has created a world system as referred by sociologists, historians and anthropologists. The corporate capitalism and industrializations are the most critical assumptions in driving force of the spread of the so-called world system. The existence of wealthier nations, poorer nations, developed or undeveloped areas is as a result of the division of the world that is related to the world system. This paper poses its argument on the relationships between population growths and the development of an economy. The discussion will tackle the following questions arising. Is the growth of population a savior or villain? Does economic development become stagnant as a consequence of rapid population growth? And lastly does population growth spur development on technology that boosts the better living standards.

The argument based on Malthus, a classic pessimist that the environment could not sustain the rate at which the world was to expand. The resources on earth were projected to be depleted by the population growth. The economy could only be improved by checked operations to balance the economy and the population. According to him, checks were factors that would result in reduced birth rates (Ritzer, 472). The shortage of resources issues has replaced by the concerns of environmental impact due to population growth. On the other hand, according to optimists Boserup and Simon, their argument was based on the fact that the pressure of population growth is taken care by the innovation of technological development. An argument can be on the need for enhancing technology comes in when required, and population growth is ranked to be leading factor. For example, increase in agricultural products is due to the need arising from population growth (Ritzer, 473). Julian Simon is one person who viewed that the population growth had a positive impact in driving economic growth. He argued that tackling the problems associated with population growth would be with technological innovation to finding solutions.

Let’s take our argument based on the example of the case study of India and China. These two countries represent the periphery with a population of 38%. In the early 1950s, India has since promoted programs relating family planning but has failed. Projection of the population in India is that it will be four times its population in 1950. On the other hand, China is successful in controlling its population growth. The factor of population increase in China will have a small significance compared to India. It is obvious that one to predict that China has a higher economic growth rate than for India. But this is not the case; both nations have significantly thrived in their economies worldwide. If we consider the population growth and the gross domestic product in poor countries, there is no relationship linking the two. Examinations conducted by demographers and economists based on the links between population growth and economic development.  The various nations’ findings are suggesting insignificant evidence that economic development inhibited the growth in population (Robbins, 137).  

On the issue of carrying capacity as biologists refer to it being the maximum amount of organism, an environment can sustain. Malthus is taking this into account to assuming the population of human will reach a point where it will exceed the world’s carrying capacity. Our argument sees the application of the carrying capacity problematic as the culture and thinking capacity of human gives them the ability to change their diet consistently and exploit the ecological niche for food. There is a wide variation of the global carrying capacity of the population which relies on food. Prediction of the capability of a human to support extra people with food is almost impossible hence being an argument involving Malthusians and the revisionists. We conclude that the arguments of the neo-Malthusian are unsubstantial.

Population growth started way back in colonialism as commodity production for export was vital to the growth of the economy. Policies that resulted in the labor force were in place as the profits were more than the cost resulting in population growth. In 1911, there were claims that Equatorial Africa was developing at a slow rate as there was a lack of labor force. In Africa, women increased their fertility responding to the pressures of the colonials (Robbins, 148). For example in Sudan, the need to increase the labor force to work in the cotton growing established by the British in 1920s. It led to population growth as women weaned their children in early stages to get pregnant again. According to Marx’s, his idea was to increase the population to be surplus workers. He saw capitalism as having a large population to provide surplus labor that jobs would be scarce. It would allow the manufacturing industries and the governments to have wages at a very low level. If the idea of Marx were correct, then one would expect the government of colonials to have encouraged population growth. And this is what happened in Africa as the colonial governments helped birth rates to increase due to lack of the labor force due to low population. The assumption of most demographers is that preindustrial societies have mortality rates that are high, but it is not true as we shall learn. Economic development is viewed by the demographic transition models as a solution to the population growth as it will reduce due to high mortality rates. Conversely, Marx had a different view on the cause of population growth being economic development (Robbins, 147).

Theorists of demographic transitions have ignored that the populations of human have changed their fertility rates as a result of their social conditions and local economies within their area. We can adopt the assumption that the core factors contributing to high fertility rates are the social as well as economic factors but not as a result of uneducated people, ignorance, and religious values that are outmoded. The question posed regards the population growth or decline is what factors dictate birth or death rates regarding economic, social, and cultural issues. Fertility is determined by social and biological factors as it involves the number of births a woman can have during her fecund period. The factors affecting the rate of delivery are; infertility period after birth, time difference in conception and ovulation, pregnancy period, and birth control measures. Breastfeeding influencing factors may be the economic and patterns of utility. A good example is in the periphery breastfeeding has significantly decreased for the last three decades as a result of advertised as well as the sale of infant formula milk powder. Several societies practice a taboo related to postpartum sexual behavior hence birth spacing will consequently increase.

In conclusion, the situation experienced today globally seems to vary with the proposal of Malthus. The rate of population growth is one mild factor affecting the economic growth directly. The Rapid population is of less concern but regarding the environmental impact is still an issue that addresses the needs. In our current society, there is more attention to low fertility as opposed to high productivity. Mortality is the center focused point in the developing nations’ population. There is a transition in the families in most of the countries where they have changed from high mortality as well as fertility to low mortality and low fertility. The world referred to as a global village due to its interconnection within nations. The demographic involving cultural, social, and economic opportunities and challenges affect the policies at the local, regional, and worldwide levels.

References

Ritzer, George. The Wiley-Blackwell Companion To Sociology. Malden, MA: John Wiley, 2012. Print.

Robbins, Richard H. Global Problems And The Culture Of Capitalism. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print.

Todaro, Michael P, and Stephen C Smith. Economic Development. Boston: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2006. Print.